Carrier carton



June 8, 1943. 0. Y. WARREN 2,321,534

CARRIER CARTbN Filed Aug. 29, 1939 2% 22 K 45 4 73/ :42 I I I/ zd m '1 4 7 INVENTOR Oiey K flzrrevz hi 5 gm ATTQRNEY Patented June 8, 1943 UNlTED STATES PATENT 7 OFFICE CARRIER CARTON Otey Y. Warren, Roslyn Estates, N. Y.

Application August 29, 1939', Serial No. 292,393

2 Claims.

This invention relates to carrier cartons, and more particularly to carrier cartons of the type used in dispensing bottled beverages.

In the bottled beverage industry, it has become the custom to provide retailers with loaded, portable cartons containing a number of bottles, such as three or six, which may be conveniently and comfortably carried away by a customer. These cartons, generally speaking, comprise a unitary, scored, blank, which may be folded into a base portion upon which the bottle bottoms rest and bottle engaging side portions the terminals of which are juxtaposed and locked together to form a handle.

As the cartons are supplied without charge, it is important that the expense of using the cartons be reduced to a minimum. One way of cutting the cost of using carrier cartons is to reduce the labor and increase the speed of loading, folding and locking the cartons. Speed is particularly important where the cartons are packed at the bottling plant as one step of a continuous, generally automatic and rapid bottling process, with which the packing must keep up.

It is the object of this invention, therefore, to provide bottle carrier cartons having simplified and safe locking means that may be quickly, easily and surely operated.

Generally stated, this invention consists of a carton whose opposed walls may be interengaged by a relative lateral movement and has means to restrict the relative lateral movement of the Walls, operable in one movement with the interengaging of the walls.

Comprehensively stated, the locking means of the present invention comprises a tab having an undercut keeper opening on one of th walls, and a latch on the second wall which is caught in the keeper opening as the tab isthrust through and caught in a receiving opening in the second wall.

In the accompanying drawing, one embodiment of the locking means of the present invention is illustrated. It is to be understood that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to aid in the comprehension and practice of the invention, and is not intended in any way to limit the scope thereof.

In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a locked carrier carton having the simplified locking means of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same on line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the carton blank before it is folded.

The illustrated embodiment is shown as having a capacity for one row of three bottles. It is to be understood however, that it may be used with cartons having six bottle capacity, the latter differing from the illustrated carton only in having a wider base to accommodate two rows of bottles and bottle engaging openings in both of its side walls.

The carton illustrated is shown as having a base portion l0 upon which the bottoms of the bottles rest, when folded, and an integral imperforate wall portion l2 on one end of the base which may be marked off from the base by scoring M, at which scoring it may be flexed into upright position.

Another wall portion l6 extends from the other side of the base Ill and is similarly marked ofi therefrom by a line of scoring [8, at which it may be upwardly flexed. The wall It is provided with bottle receiving openings 20, preferably of oval outline which may fit over the necks of the bottles placed on the base In and against their shoulders to retain them upon the base.

In the three bottle carton illustrated, the bottle engaging wall l6 may be somewhat longer than the upright wall l2, so that it may be arched over the bottle neck, and shoulders, and bent over to have its terminal grip member 22 juxtaposed against the terminal grip member 24 of the upright wall l2. Lines of scoring 26 and 28 may be provided intermediate the grip members and the bottle engaging walls, so that they may be flexed into juxtaposed position. The grip members are provided with registering grip openings 30 and 42, whereby the carton may be carried.

To engage the walls I2 and I6 against separation, there is provided in one of said walls, as l2, preferably, within its grip opening 30 and rising from the base thereof, a latch 32, having a detent notch 34, which may be formed by providing the latch with an overhanging edge. The opposed wall It is provided with a keeper opening 36 in register with the neck of the latch 32, so that the detent notch 34 will engage upon an edge of the keeper opening. To facilitate the insertion of the notch into the keeper opening, its upstanding side may be inclined to converge upwardly. For further ease of interlocking, the keeper opening may be formed as an extension of one of the bottle engaging slots 20 so that the extension slot 36 may serve to guide the latch into the keeper opening.

It will be apparent that the latch 32 may be readily engaged upon an edge of the keeper opening 36, by thrusting the latch into the opening, the inclined sides of the latch causing the opposed sides to move laterally relative one another until the detent notch 34 is caught by an edge of the keeper opening, when they will snap back into their proper places. The roof of the keeper opening 36 may be provided with a recess 38 to aid in guiding the latch into the keeper opening, should the operator aim the latch high, to further insure locking by one movement.

In order to prevent disengagement of the latch from the opposed wall by relative lateral movement of the opposed walls, accidentally or during portage, the opposed walls may be further locked against lateral movement, simultaneously and in one operation with the thrusting of the latch through the keeper opening. For that purpose, one of the walls, as 16, may be provided with an upstanding tab 40, preferably within the grip opening 42, comprising part of the board cut out to form the grip opening, and extendin ypreferably, along the entire base of the grip opening, so that it may be bent over and thrust through the grip opening 38 of the opposed wall l2 as the latch is thrust through the keeper, the edges of the tab cooperating with the edges of the receiving grip opening 30 to prevent lateral movement of the walls. The side edges of the tabereceiving grip opening may be provided with inwardly extending projections froming shoulders 44, under which the tab may be caught to prevent its straightening and withdrawal from the grip opening, thereby maintaining the carton safely and securely locked,

In order to prevent the bottles from falling out of the open ends of the carton, the blank strip is slit at 45 as shown in Fig. 3. When the carton is folded the tab 46 folds along the fold line 41, takes the position shown in Fig. 2 and serves as a stop for the two outside bottles to prevent them from falling out when the carton is tilted.

It will be apparent that, in operation, both the latch and tab may simultaneously thrust into their respective receiving openings, to be caught by their respective cooperating engaging members, by a single movement of the opposed walls toward one another, by the operator.

The claims are:

1. In a container, two oppositely positioned side walls, separable for opening the container, and laterally displaceable relatively to one another for locking and unlocking the container, one of said walls having therein a bottle opening, and a, narrower keeper slot forming an extension of the bottle opening, and a latch member on the other wall having a neck of width to fit within the keeper opening and a head laterally detented beyond the side of the neck, the head being of a size to permit it to be passed with the neck through the bottle opening and the neck thereafter to be passed into the keeper slot to lock the container.

2. In a, container, two oppositely positioned side walls, separable for opening the container, and latterally displaceable relatively to one another for locking and unlocking the container, one of said walls having therein a bottle opening with upwardly converging side edges and a narrower keeper slot forming a top extension of the bottle opening, and a latch member on the other wall adapted to be projected through the bottle opening as the walls are brought together and by said converging edges guided into the keeper slot to lock the container.

- OTEY Y. WARREN. 

